"Dashi or stock is the foundation of all savory Japanese cooking. It's not just used in soups; it's used in everything, from sauces, dressings, as a liquid when stewing vegetables, and more. Without dashi, Japanese dishes simply aren't right. If anything, dashi is more critical to Japanese cooking than meat, vegetable and fish stocks are to French cooking. Dashi is a liquid that is packed with umami, or glutamates. Umami is an essential part of any savory cuisine, but particularly so in Japanese cooking. Sure, you can use instant granules to make Dashi, but this is so easy and so much tastier - why would you bother with instant? NOTE: Does not include soaking/resting time of 40 minutes total."

Ingredients

Note: a 1/2 oz piece of kombu is about a 4 inch square. 1/2 oz of katsobushi is about a good sized handful

Nutritional

Serving Size: 1 (1054.6 g)

Calories 60.2

Total Fat - 0 g

Saturated Fat - 0 g

Cholesterol - 0 mg

Sodium - 43.7 mg

Total Carbohydrate - 13.5 g

Dietary Fiber - 0.2 g

Sugars - 0.9 g

Protein - 1.2 g

Calcium - 44.5 mg

Iron - 0.6 mg

Vitamin C - 0 mg

Thiamin - 0 mg

Step 1

Set aside the katsuobushi. Put the kombu and water in a pan and leave it to soak for at least 30 minutes. You can leave it in the water for up to a day in the refrigerator, if you want to do the soaking step in advance.

Step 2

Put the pan on the stove and bring it to a boil, then lower the heat. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Step 3

Add the katsuobushi, and turn the heat off. Let sit for about 10 minutes, or until the katsuobushi sinks to the bottom of the pan.

Step 4

Strain off the liquid, using a fine-mesh sieve.

Step 5

*Don't throw away the used kombu and katsuobushi! Put it in a plastic bag and store it in the freezer for use in other recipes.

Step 6

The dashi will be a pale golden color, and can be used right away - or stored well covered for a few days in the refrigerator. You can also freeze it - putting it in ice cube trays is a handy way of doing this.